Women with Power Application

I introduce an easy-to-use e-based program that teaches African women with refugee status in South Africa about integrating technology such as web3 and coding within their entrepreneurial ventures. 

I, in collaboration with an NGO I cofounded called Girls4STEM, present the Women with Power application. An e-based web program with e-learning attributes to teach African women with refugee statuses in South Africa about integrating technology within their businesses. I present this solution to decrease the growing number of unemployed refugee women in South Africa and close the gender inequality within the STEM world in regard to business ventures. As it stands, many of the African women in the South African community are plagued by gender-based violence and poverty. All these factors affect the state of their businesses and limit them in society.

Moreover, refugee women in South Africa are not equipped with the business knowledge every entrepreneur has, no matter how great their business ideas are. This is because they were not allowed a great education and many of them had married young and garnered responsibility for themselves and their children from such a tender age. My mother, cousins, aunts and sisters had been one of them. They have little to no English language skills, do not know about health insurance and do not own a penny in investments. Many of them do not perform well enough to get accepted into universities and the ones that do, unfortunately, do not have the funds to attend. 

In the eighteen years that I have lived in this world, I have seen, heard and have been at the centre of this. You see, among the many African women I am associated with, at least half of them are refugees from Zimbabwe, Congo DRC, Malawi, Nigeria and so on. That's a great number of people that I can impact with my Women with Power application. At least 200 women and children can be found in refugee camps that have been established in one South African province. 

And the scary part is that the number only increases over the years. These women had left their home country with kids on their backs with no one to trust but their husbands. Not having the correct documents had rendered them unemployed but many had developed the mind to start their own businesses. If we as a society do not stand up to support and inspire these women, if we do not advocate at all, then we play a role too in enforcing this social disadvantage and prolonging the matter onto their children. Then we play a role in limiting people and violating a woman's rights and compromising a child's future. Therefore, in collaboration with Girls4STEM, my solution, Women with Power Application, exists to educate these women with practical and theory-based e-programs to develop these women in society and into leaders in STEM and leaders in the sectors of their business ventures.

Women with Power application is an app. Coded and uploaded on the web and on a platform such as Google Play for easy access and download. It has courses on tech-based solutions, such as coding, electrical and robotics engineering. Courses will run from six months to a whole year depending on the learner's pace. Lectures will be contacted from top universities in South Africa through my collaboration with the Girls4STEM organisation. The Women with Power application will be adapted to hand out certifications that will assist learners in starting ventures or, if they choose, finding jobs in the tech industry. There will be an online blog and a social community for each cohort starting with the Women with Power application. As more women join, new cohorts are created in each course in order to maintain small and comfortable teaching environments for each learner. 

The coded app will be available to access on the web or be downloaded on your computer or smartphone. Each learner will have access to their own account that they or will create upon signing in. 

The courses will be adapted for both theory and practical applications. This way learners will be able to learn more effectively. The courses will be presented in the form of zoom/ live youtube links with the opportunity to ask the lecturer questions afterwards on the Women with Power feedback portal.

Courses on English and entrepreneurship will also be available.

I target female refugees, asylum seekers and undocumented women in South Africa with the desire to become leaders in tech and in the world of business. These women lack information and skills that are basic for living a comfortable life. Information such as health insurance, or why putting money in the bank is safer and the like. They are disadvantaged due to the status of their citizenship simply because there is war back where they originally come from. They have no support, not from back home or the South African government, many are afraid, and face severe mental health issues that they do not understand. Some even commit suicide due to depression. 

My goal with the Women with Power application is to see to it that these women garner understanding and skills and improve their lives. In this way, they can understand what mental health, health insurance and investing are important for. Also acquiring skills such as coding or web3 and making a business venture out of it. They gain independence, and financial security and protect their basic human rights this way.

I believe that I am well-positioned to deliver this solution. For one, the 800+ affected women in South Africa happen to be the community I grew up with and the relatives of that community. I have witnessed how the lack of information and skills can affect the lives of refugee women way more than that of a person with citizenship. It is truly sad to see a classmate pulled out of school because they do not have the basic English skills or see an Aunt chased out of her home because the landlord doesn't like refugees. And to think such a thing could have been avoided if the representative had access to basic legal representation. But even with all that I have witnessed within my community - and it has been a lot- I also had the unfortunate of witnessing the effect of domestic abuse when I volunteered at a women empowerment centre near my home. Such things should not be. At all.

Simply put, I am a woman and I dread seeing the lives of other women around me be so miserable. I dread the fact that if I do not do anything then I will be a part of these women in the future. I know because I am already being affected, however little the impact. So I have to bring change, and I choose to bring it through the Women with Power application.

I am the potential population. So are my family members and closest peers. My research is based on the experiences I have had as a female refugee in South Africa and the experiences of my mother and sisters and every woman in my community with the status of refugee in South Africa. My sisters and our closest friends share stories through the podcast we've begun of the impact of being a refugee and a woman in South Africa. I've heard, seen and lived through it all. That is my research. I have the word of at least 100+ females who speak of their experiences and I have consulted them in the design of the Women with Power application. To put it simply, I am the best person to combat this with my Women with Power application as I have the research, the experience and the understanding of what needs to be done. I have the solution.

My solution is innovation because it is new. There has never been a tech-based solution focusing on the lives of refugee women in South Africa. The Women with Power application will be the first-ever tech-based solution and will positively influence the lives of refugee women in South Africa. With this solution, not only the refugee women in South Africa will be affected but with proper funding and time, the Women with Power application will have the ability to affect women with refugee or immigration status all over the world. To improve their quality of life and make them leading figures in the world of tech and business.

The goals are as follows, introduce the Women with Power application to the community through widespread community outreach and public speaking, collaborate with the Girls4STEM organisation for the Women with Power application, then secure funding for the solution. Build the prototype of the solution and introduce it to the community as promised. With time secure the final product of the solution and release it to the community and provinces of South Africa, accompanied by more public speaking and community outreach. Make sure each cohort is successfully integrated into the Women with Power application. The ultimate goal is to see to it that each woman has completed their course, secured their certificate and has gone ahead to do great things in the world. The goal is to see them more successful than they were when they first started.

Women with Power application will be coded software using one of the many programming languages such as Java and uploaded onto the web and platforms such as google play, for easy access. Individuals could log into their account once they have the solution open in a browser or on the app on their phone or laptop. From there they can access their courses, see their grades, download their certificates and many more options. 

200+ Refugee women and I plan to serve 800+ refugee women in the next year.

Funding is one of the main barriers to accomplishing the goal. If I do not secure funding then it will be very difficult to code and maintain the server of the Women with Power application. There are also legal barriers but that pertains to whether the South African government will allow me to register the Women with Power application as a non-profit business within the following years due to my refugee status. But proper legal representation will be able to solve that issue very quickly. Apart from that there are no other barriers, the targeted community is very welcoming to the idea of the Women with Power application. Nearly eager for it.

I am collaborating with the Girls4STEM organisation. It is a youth-led non-profit organisation that I cofounded with the girls from my high school graduating class, and I am currently the CEO of Girls4STEM. I have been working with Girls4STEM on the Women with Power application for about three months now.

The business model of the Women with Power application includes collaborating with Girls4STEM to garner support from that organisation, as I am the CEO, I will have great access to the organisation and its resources. The Women with Power application is a product on the web and google play platform that will provide services in the form of free courses and certifications. The resources required to run the Women with Power application include people who can code and maintain app servers and funding for the solution. The Women with Power application operates to ensure that each woman participating has access to free courses that will build up their skills and provide information that will enable them to become a leader in the tech and business world. 

Funding for the Women with Power application will cover the payment for coding the application and money for the servers. It will also cover funding for community outreach activities and public speaking. I plan to make a profit through donations from the Women with Power application alumni in the future and invest the profit in expanding the Women with Power application to other regions in the world with immigrant and refugee women.

The benefactors of the Women with Power application are the African refugees in South Africa and around the world. With more funding, benefactors could include refugees, no matter of ethnicity, all around the world. The Women with Power, led by myself in collaboration with Girls4STEm, will be the key customers in ensuring the benefactors of my solution impacts them in the best ways possible. 

At least 40% of the profit should come from donations and 60% will come from funding from other organisations and collaborating with Girls4STEM. 70% of the revenue will go into ensuring that each participant in each cohort of the Woman with Power application is successful and on their way to becoming world leaders in tech and business. 30% of revenue should go into paying for the lectures, coders and everyone putting a hand in making sure the Women with Power application is successful. 

The goal of myself and everyone who considers themself a customer of the Women with Power application is to see to it that each female is successful after their involvement in the Women with Power application. 

As I have already described in the business model, revenue will be made, firstly in the form of funding from organisations willing to see that the Women with Power application is successful. Secondly, revenue will also be acquired from the donations of successful participants of each graduating cohort of the Women with Power application, but this will come at a later stage. For now, funding will be come from organisations and collaborating with Girls4STEM.